


Boss

by hanktalkin



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Competition, Non-Sexual Submission, Other, Wrestling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 10:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanktalkin/pseuds/hanktalkin
Summary: Hound discovers something.





	Boss

Begin with nothing. That is the ultimate rule, the founding principal of the Games, the basis upon all competitions start. Acceptance is equality, to enter the arena as you entered this world: naked and terrified.

That tenant lasts just about as long as it takes a fool to find a pistol.

 Bloodhound kicks out, stumbling the other legend as the two of them scuffle in cramped water treatment room, scrambling for discarded gear for any item that might give them the slightest edge. Luck and second-long decisions are the Gods here, Allfather forgiving, and they flail backwards to grab a handful of bullets on the ground. _Helpful_.

Mirage lunges at them, (as much as he can while they roll on the ground like animals), and they try to wrestle his arm into bar in order to snap it. But he’s fast, too damn fast—and slippery—and he scrabbles away from them before they can commit. It’s like this when boots hit the ground: where a few meters from your teammates might as well be an ocean, and somehow fists are the only thing that matters even when you’re facing off against super powered experiments and men who can make clones.

They’re on their sides now, up and down switching rapidly, and suddenly his knee collides with their mask. Hound is tough, sturdier than most, yet their personal armor is made for repelling teeth and claws, not blunt trauma. The snap back, stunned, and they miss as the Mirage in front of them suddenly turns double. Their next attack hits the wrong one, and suddenly the three of them are rolling, landing in the hall outside-

And Mirage has a gun pointed at their face.

It’s a dinky little thing, barely a sidearm, but that doesn’t matter when it’s pressed practically between their eyes. His full weight is on their chest, crushing them, and they don’t bother to try and breathe. It will be over in a few seconds.

Yet Mirage doesn’t fire. It surprises them at first, and they wonder if he reflecting, relishing the kill. They have known men like that: those for whom taking the lives of the others is an end, not a means.

But then they look up, up to his eyes which are wide with shock, as though he too can’t believe he’s bested them. His chest is heaving, and one of his dark curls fallen over his eye. They’re brown. They shouldn’t be noticing that at a time like this, but they’re a soft, golden brown.

Mirage twitches.

Bloodhound doesn’t react. They wonder what it’s like on his end, when he can’t see the way their eyes flick between the gun and him—what does he think in this moment? What does he make of the sudden scene between them-?

The door to their left creaks. The gun goes off.

* * *

They wake back in their pod post-match—no one alive long enough to come for their banner. Out of habit, they check the match’s winners, and feel a small tremor of surprise when it’s no one they recognize. For some reason they thought…no that was purely the pride talking. There are plenty of other worthy competitors—the fact that he beat them in a dirty ground fight doesn’t mean he’s some sort of godly champion.

Still. They find themself rubbing not the spot where the bullet shattered their skull, but their sternum, where they swear they can still feel the ghost of Mirage’s weight. They’re used to death being transactional, domination lost and domination gained, no time spent ruminating on any one state. But as they think of him towering over them, that look on his face as he realized he had so much power and not the faintest idea what to do with it…

It sticks with them. Hauntingly. And it will until they can return the favor.


End file.
